


All I Want for Christmas...

by Kuromori (Charred_Ground), sumire (sometimesafangirl)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 07:59:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13162677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charred_Ground/pseuds/Kuromori, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sometimesafangirl/pseuds/sumire
Summary: Our Holiday Story!





	All I Want for Christmas...

Snowcapped mountains framed the deep green sky of the setting sun. As soon as the life-giving orb disappeared beyond the rocky mounds the temperature of Gelphrix Twelve dropped forty degrees. The change brought upon a sudden and swift pressure shift creating a wind which howled down the mountain and then through Keith’s hair, whipping it wildly about his face. 

Keith leaned heavily against the railing and watched the sky flash red, and two halves of a sphere closed, encasing the town. The former paladin didn’t have to ask the purpose. The recent weakening of Glephix’s atmosphere made it harder for the planet to hold in any heat. As soon as the sun dropped, so did the temperatures. The sphere protected the inhabitants and also kept everyone inside until morning. However there was something special about today. The Equinox. Three full days with no sun. That meant days of being trapped inside this sphere. No one in. No one out.

Had Keith known they’d be trapped, he would have hurried the meet up along. The exchange of information hadn’t been that simple. Keith had gotten swept up in the moment and here he was, standing on balcony in an over-priced one bedroom hotel suite with the last person he had expected to see. He stepped into the door frame, holding back a shiver from the cold, watching Lance snore sprawled across bed. Long story short, Keith was an easy mark. 

For the last two rendezvous, the Voltron team sent Pidge. The tiny Paladin was smart, fast, and could cloak. Smart choice for covert missions. This time they sent Lance. Loud, boisterous, question-asking Lance. Keith figured he probably pissed Shiro off, and he sent the Red Paladin out as a punishment, or he needed a break from his attention deficit ass. 

Keith sighed again, the long shirt he wore billowing about his bare thighs in the dying yet frigid wind. He held his arms and looked back over his shoulder as lights started to blink into existence. Bright street lamps along the city walks. Gray smoke started to curl out of smoke stacks and carrying with it a mixture of sweet and savory scents. Stalls began to open to sell specialty packaged goods, and a large gathering of canine like aliens gathered in the city square, singing around some sort of giant lit up stack of wood. Keith scowled. It was familiar. These smells and colors. Even the tone of the music held a nostalgic note. It reminded him of unpleasant emotions. It reminded him of the December holidays on Earth. Right down to the sickeningly sweet sugary drinks and snacks, which Keith secretly loved. 

“Aren’t you cold?” Lance was sitting up on the bed, rubbing his eyes before he looked out at the figure on the balcony. “How long was I asleep?” He hadn’t meant to pass out, but he had been working himself ragged the past few weeks, and he hadn’t been able to sleep well enough to regain his stamina as much as he would have liked. All it took was a burst of activity, and as soon as his body relaxed, he was out. And now they were stuck on this planet at least until the holiday celebration was over, which he absolutely did not mind since he wanted to avoid the others for a few days. He might have played himself up for Coran’s little marketing thing, but he really was just tired of it. He could only act so convincingly for so long. So he wanted to decompress, and he would just have to try to convince Keith to decompress a bit as well.

He stretched his arms over his head and let out a soft groan when his body settled again, and he watched Keith carefully. He didn’t want to admit that his heart started to race a bit when he saw the way that shirt billowed and exposed more of those creamy thighs. “You should come back in here…” His voice was quiet, and he glanced down at the messy blankets around him, though his mind was already wandering to what was under that shirt. “Unless you want to go out there and walk around?”

Keith jumped at the voice before he turned around. “I don’t want to go around all those people.” He whispered, but Keith trusted Lance’s ability to hear him. 

With a sigh he walked back toward the room. The last gust of frozen wind picking up the curtains and shear fabric making them dance about Keith as he stood in the entryway. He cut a fine figure, standing there backlit by the holiday lights. Slim, yet toned. The body of a man who took every advantage he could. Lean muscled and never bulky, lest he suffer a loss of speed for strength. He was small, yet compact. Coiled tight and ready to spring like a tiger in the grass.

“Then we won’t go down there.” Lance watched the way Keith moved, and his lips twitched into a little bit of a smile. “But it’s definitely colder over there, so you should shut the balcony door and come back in here where it’s warm.” He held one of the blankets open for him, hoping Keith would take the invitation.

“Do you have an off switch?” Keith arched a brow. He didn’t blame Lance for what happened. No one was forced into anything, and no one said no. Though it felt strange having Lance’s flirtations directed at him. Women never seemed to care for it, outside of his ‘Loverboy’ fangirls. Keith however, felt the swoon tingle his cheeks, and he hated himself for it. Hated himself more as he sat down on the edge of the bed. How lonely had he been?

“Because I want you to be warm with me instead of cold over there?” Lance puffed his cheeks out. He wanted to pretend he wasn’t disappointed with the way Keith seemed to be reacting to him after everything, but the other man’s hesitation was clear. Sure, he sat on the bed, but it was the edge of the bed. It wasn’t that close to Lance. So he just kept holding the blanket open, but his eyes were suddenly downcast. Then what was that earlier? Maybe Keith really didn’t want to be here.

“That’s not what I mean.” Keith sighed and flopped back, allowing Lance to pull the covers over him. He wasn’t trying to act like nothing happened. He knew damn well what happened, but he didn’t know how to act. Or what to say. They hadn’t had sex. Close but not completely. Lance backed off the second he felt Keith’s hesitation. 

Keith knew the whole thing was a bad idea. Getting tangled up in a relationship would only lead to someone getting hurt. He’d just wanted comfort. He wanted to reach out and feel the warmth he’d let go. Lance only made a joke and Keith fell into his arms like a sentimental idiot. It felt good being close to someone and feeling another’s body heat. “I’ll make sure the Blade picks up the cost of the room. I’ll say it was my fault we got stuck here during their no fly period.”

“No one’s going to believe that, so don’t bother.” Lance laid back down next to Keith, but he did his best not to agitate the other paladin, well former paladin if you believed what Keith believed—Lance didn’t believe it. Keith was still one of them, regardless of what he did. But he didn’t want to annoy Keith. so he tried to be a bit careful about where his arms and legs were. “It’s my fault anyway, isn’t it? I talked too much and we got stuck here.”

“It wasn’t talking that got us here.” Keith stated bluntly. “If it was, you really need to reevaluate your communication skills.” 

“That wasn’t what I was talking about.” Lance shook his head a little before he rolled to his side, his back to Keith. “If I hadn’t talked so much, you could have left before they closed everything off. Then you wouldn’t seem like you regret it because it wouldn’t have happened.” He puffed his cheeks out again, though he knew Keith couldn’t see it.

“You don’t see how bad this could be?” Keith turned his head toward Lance and he blushed, seeing the small mark he’d left against the bronze flesh. His memory flashed to fevered kisses and rough clumsy hands.

“No, I don’t think it’s bad.” Lance’s voice seemed to be trembling a little. Of course Keith didn’t like it now that the moment of passion was over and he had time to think about it. 

“And if I don’t live through my next mission. Or something happens to you and Red?” Keith heard the tremor in the paladin’s voice and the guilt slammed into his gut like a thousand-pound weight. “We’re in the middle of a war. Just because you want them to, people don’t come back. The closer I—the closer people are, the more it hurts when they disappear.”

“So you’d rather isolate yourself than enjoy life while you can? You want to regret not doing something just because something bad could happen later?” Lance muttered. “That’s stupid.” He shifted and looked over his shoulder at Keith, at least as best as he could being curled up on his side. “Do you regret it then? Should I go see if they have another room?”

“They don’t. I asked that when we checked in.” Keith couldn’t meet Lance’s eyes. “You can say that because you don’t know what it feels like. Call me stupid if you want. It doesn’t matter.” Keith sighed. “I don’t regret it. But I you might. Maybe not today but someday.”

“You’re joking right? You think I don’t know how painful it is to be separated from someone or lose them?” Lance rolled to look at him, frowning. Did Keith forget he left his family on Earth? “I don’t do anything I think I’ll regret later. I don’t get close to people if I’m going to regret being close to them.” He moved again, leaning over Keith and grabbing his chin to force him to at least face him. “So don’t put your insecurities on me. I have plenty of them as it is. I don’t need you inventing more for me.” 

Keith gasped at the sudden pull. His eyes were wide and lost when they met Lance’s, and he forced himself to look away again. “I’m scared.” Just like that Lance pulled the truth out of him. He continued to be Keith’s right hand even after the former had given up his post, and there, in the thick of that sentiment laid a growing dark spot. Lance was Shiro’s Red Lion. Jealousy started to plant its seed, but not in the soil one might expect. Lance and Keith had the potential to be formidable. They worked hard to get where they were and then—Keith stopped his train of thought. Those kinds of feelings did very little to help anyone.

Lance blinked, but then he felt his annoyance melt away, and he smiled. “Isn’t that okay? Isn’t it better to be scared with someone else than suffer alone?” He shifted so he could move his hand from Keith’s chin to his cheek. 

As if Lance had a brush in his hand, Keith’s cheeks were painted red with the intimacy of his touch. Lance pushed he borders of his privilege, and it left Keith off guard. “I-I wouldn’t know.”

“Well you always suffer alone. It can’t feel right. So don’t do it alone anymore.” Lance stroked his cheek and smiled softly. “Share it with me.”

“I don’t know how to do any of that.” Keith even kept Shiro in the dark about what was going on in the deeper regions of his mind. Though lately he started thinking that wasn’t a bad choice. How could he trust anyone else? People hurt others. Either intentionally or accidentally, and Keith didn’t want to be hurt any more. More importantly, he didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“That’s ok. I can help you.” Lance kept smiling down at him. He was pretty good at suffering, so at least he could help Keith if he felt the same.

“Urg.” Keith reached his hands up over his face. “This is so stupid!” But then spread his fingers to peek at Lance.

“Why? Because I want you to rely on me a little? Because I like seeing you cute and embarrassed, so I want to keep making you blush? Because I made you feel good?” Lance chuckled.

“Not helping!” Keith’s voice cracked, but he dropped his hands from his face. He stared up at Lance’s perfect white-toothed smile. No one’s teeth were that perfect. Did he get braces as a kid? Some laser bleaching on his teeth? Did people their age whiten their teeth? Keith realized a second too late he was fixated and shook his head clear. 

“No? I think it’s helping.” Lance’s smile shifted into a grin since he caught Keith staring. And the blush that continued to color his cheeks was adorable. 

“What is helping?” Keith whimpered in frustration. “Aside from my drive to punch you?”

“Kiss me? You want to kiss me?” Lance grinned. He was going to keep Keith’s cheeks red as long as he could.

“Will that shut you up? Fine!” Keith grabbed the collar of Lance’s shirt and pulled him down, crushing their mouths together in violent lock of their lips, but as Keith lingered, the pressure softened. His eyebrows furrowed up, and the tension in his face melted away. His grip on Lance slackened as his hands slid up the paladin’s shoulders and around the back of his neck to hold Lance’s head.

Lance let out a soft groan against Keith’s lips. He had only been teasing him, since Keith seemed to have an aversion to him after their little bout of passion, so he wasn’t expecting the other paladin to follow through. He shifted his body to rest comfortably against the one below him as he deepened that kiss.

When the kiss broke, Keith panted heavily. “You are the most aggravating person I have ever met.”

“Really? Even though you like kissing me?” Lance grinned and leaned a little closer.

Keith growled. He couldn’t say anything against Lance’s claim. It was true. Keith liked the contact. For all his talk about wanting to be alone and being a part of the Blade, he craved physical connection from others. Not long ago, Allura had hugged him, and the embrace had nearly brought the former Red Paladin to tears.

Things were different now. The Red Lion had a new pilot, and Allura had been a quick study with blue. Keith didn’t have a home with them anymore despite Shiro’s words. Keith had read between the lines. The words were the cruel heartless reality Keith had come to expect. Dispensable. Unwanted. Unneeded. 

He’d almost fooled himself thinking he’d found his home, but like everything else it had been a lie. “What of it.” Keith said sourly. “Is it strange to like things because they feel good?” 

“No, it’s not strange. I like it too.” Lance shook his head a little at Keith’s sour disposition, so he gently tapped him on the nose. “And honestly it makes me feel better that you like it. I was worried you might hate me.”

“Do you think I would do this with someone I hated?” Keith turned his head up, fiery eyes staring Lance down. “You’re the one who’s always picking a fight with me. I should be saying that to you, Loverboy.” He teased with a cold smirk, but instantly regretted it. 

“Sorry.” Keith turned his head to the side. 

“Well no.” Lance blinked and sat up, seeming to shrink even despite the new position. “I mean I know you wouldn’t if you hated me, which is why I was relieved.” He looked down and off to the side. “And it’s not like I’m picking a fight with you…I just…”

“Hate me. ‘I hate that guy’. Your words.” Keith turned his head, staring out at a dancing string of colored lights. “I don’t even know what I did to deserve it, but I won’t argue about your own feelings toward me. Everyone has an opinion. I’m not exactly friendly. Or likeable.” Keith went so far as to use air quotes to add emphasis. “So the real question here shouldn’t be about me. It should be about you.”

“I don’t hate you. I’m jealous of you.” Lance kept his eyes averted. “Everyone likes you. I’m just the replacement. Even now. No one really wants me there, they’d rather have you back.” He could feel his back tensing as he hated himself for saying anything in the first place. 

Keith almost laughed hearing those words. “You didn’t see the look on your faces when I came to the bridge the day I left. No one would rather have me back. You were all relieved you didn’t have to pretend to listen to me while following Shiro. Red is your lion. It’s what they decided. Remember, you trust the will of the lions.” Keith didn’t mean to add the note of sarcasm. He trusted the lions too, but at the same time something felt off.

“Don’t be stupid. I hate having you gone. It’s the worst.” Lance sighed and shook his head. “Shiro… Shiro doesn’t listen to me. He just does his own thing.” He bowed his head and frowned. “I’d much rather be working with you.”

“He’s a better leader. Black and I never closed our bond and the Lion took him back. Besides,” Keith waved his hand dismissively. “Weren’t those your problems with me?” Keith arched a brow. He tried the ignore that little spark of satisfaction knowing things weren’t smooth between the current black and red. It was a horrible thing to think. Voltron needed to be at its best. “It will just take time. You and Shiro aren’t like Shiro and me. Or me and you.” Keith’s cheeks tingled.

Lance shook his head. “I don’t care what he is. I care that you left.” He clenched his fists a little. This was the worst conversation. 

“There’s not a place for me there,” Keith argued. “I couldn’t stand seeing Shiro so listless. And you guys listen to him. I have my own agenda, and it doesn’t involve live shows. Voltron is doing great, railing the people. That’s just not my thing.”

Lance’s jaw set and he bit back a snarky retort. He snorted out a “fine” and laid back down with his back to Keith once more.

“Realistically what can I do? You’d rather I come back and be your bed warmer?” Keith blinked and sighed. Why couldn’t he ever say what he really wanted to? “Look, working with the blades is dangerous, but I’m learning more about myself. I could find my family, Lance. Do you know what that means? Not to mention the work we’re doing against the empire. I’m selfish. I know that. But if I can do both of those things, and quickly put a stop to Lotor, isn’t that better?” Keith sat up and pulled his knee to his chest. Not sure who he was trying to convince at this point. He turned his head to look outside again. 

“It looks like Christmas out there.” He whispered.

“Stop putting words into my mouth.” Lance mumbled. “You’re the only one who thinks you don’t belong with is. It’s clear you’d rather not be there.” He closed his eyes and curled a bit into himself, and his voice became a bit softer. “I hope you find your family. I hope they’re everything you ever wanted. I hope it’s worth it.”

“I don’t know. What kind of mother abandons her baby?” Keith closed his eyes. “Maybe she had a good reason. Maybe she was scared she’d get me hurt. Maybe she just didn’t want me.” Keith looked to Lance from the corner of his eye. 

“I don’t like this planet…” Keith’s blunt statement was a suffix on the rise of a choir’s volume.

Lance sighed and rolled over again so he could look at Keith, his eyes a bit sullen as he shook his head and pulled him into his arms. He didn’t say anything, he simply held him and rested his hand on his head.

“W-what are you doing?” Keith didn’t move away but he turned his head up.

“Hugging you.” He kept his voice quiet, and his eyes closed.

“I know. But why?” Keith’s words showed resistance, but his weight settle into the other man, resting against his chest. Lance had such a strong heartbeat. “I miss being around you guys too.” He admitted in muted tones. “And toward the end there I think we, me and you, really were a good team.”

“That’s why.” Lance closed his eyes and just held Keith as close as he could. 

“I don’t get it.” Keith turned his head up as another song sung by a hundred different well-tuned voices echoed from the street.

“You don’t have to get it.” Lance murmured and nuzzled his hair a bit, one of his hands starting to rub his back a bit. “If you don’t like it, I’ll stop.”

“Mm.” Keith didn’t think to silence his own note of pleasure. “I don’t dislike it.” 

“Then I’ll keep doing it.” Lance rubbed his back a bit more.

“Lance,” Keith whispered after a long moment. His voice relaxed yet holding a hint of sadness. “Are you lonely?” The question was sudden. Keith knew that, but it had been plaguing his mind for a while now.

Well, he certainly wasn’t expecting that question, but Lance looked down and Keith and nodded a little. “Yeah. You are too, aren’t you?” There was no point in lying when it was clear they felt the same way.

“Not trying for sympathy, but yes. I’m used to it. You though,” Keith leaned up, balanced himself on one had to touch the side of The Red Paladin’s jaw with the other. “This is new to you.” Lights flickered into their room. Red and green sparks igniting brilliant shades of burning coal in Keith’s eyes. 

“Just because you’re used to it doesn’t mean it’s ok.” Lance sighed and looked at him. “I’ll be fine…I’ve gotten used to pretending to be happy about everything. I’m pretty good at pretending to be stupid and happy.” 

“That’s even worse.” Keith sighed and begrudgingly sat up, his bare thighs cradling Lance’s hips. “I hate Christmas.” Keith acknowledged as though he were making the first of twelve very long and painful steps. 

“I was alone a lot. Even when my dad was still alive. There was always some dig somewhere or some geology sample he had to study. Most days he’d sit and listen to that stupid scanner expecting to hear something come through.” Keith leaned forward, his head turned to the lights and music. “We’d fight all the time about it. Then one Christmas I snapped and told him he could go ahead and join her for all I cared. I… he… I didn’t see him after that. He’d gone to work. There had been a cave in…“

Lance looked at Keith and reached up to touch his cheek. “That’s not your fault, Keith.” His brows furrowed and he watched the other paladin’s face. “All kids say bad things like that to their parents. Their parents said them to their parents too. You just have to trust that your dad knew you didn’t mean it, because they know. Parents know we say things in anger because we’re young and don’t know how to express our feelings like adults do. They know we don’t mean to hurt their feelings when trying to tell them ours.” He shifted and nuzzled Keith’s shoulder a bit, kissing there gently. 

“I meant it. Every word.” Keith’s body tensed. “He wasn’t happy with just me. I wasn’t good enough. Birthdays, Christmas none of that mattered to him. Then he was just gone. And it was just me and that stupid scanner. I threw it across the room, spent the whole of another Christmas trying to fix it.” 

“If you were trying to fix it, you didn’t mean it the way you think you did.” Lance sighed and kissed his shoulder again. “You obviously regret it, and you probably wish you could take it back, but you know you can’t.” He managed a little smile. “You are good enough. Some people have odd ways of expressing it, but you are.” He leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Let’s have a Christmas to make up for all the ones you missed, hm?”

“And the one you missed.” Keith turned his head to Lance, their lips brushing together as he did. “Earth’s Christmas has come and gone. It was your first one without them. It must have hurt.”

“Eh? You’re worried about me?” Lance smiled a little and kissed him gently, but he whispered. “It did, but less because I missed it, and more because they probably think I’m dead…So for them, it’s the first Christmas without knowing what happened to me.” His smile faltered, and tears came to his eyes. “I’ll be okay…”

Keith’s chest tightened. “Don’t.” He whispered, his body on auto pilot as leaned up and kissed under Lance’s eye lids. 

“I really will be okay, though, Keith. You’re here with me.” Lance’s eyes closed and he shivered a little at those kisses. 

“Well that was just your bad luck.” Keith smiled and looked back outside. “We can go out there. Walk the street, get some of that annoyingly sweet smelling food. Some drinks.”

“Oh yeah? Will you hold my hand, too?” Lance opened his eyes again and watched Keith’s face. 

“If it’s cold.” Keith blushed, turning his head away.

“Only if it’s cold?” Lance pouted a little and leaned up to kiss his cheek. 

“If they’re cold, I’ll warm them. Okay? Get dressed.”

“You too then.” Lance looked at him and poked his cheek. “Also you have to untangle yourself from me if you want me to get up.”

In an uncharacteristic, yet very characteristically cocky, display, Keith straightened his leg and swung it around over Lance’s head. The move gave the Paladin an unobstructed view of the black briefs Lance had been fumbling with just hours before. It also served as a rather effective reminder: flexibility didn’t have be reserved for secret missions and ribbon dancing.

Lance blinked and stared at him, eyes widening. Keith totally did that on purpose, didn’t he? He wanted to rile him up again after everything? He cleared his throat and slid off the bed, out from under the covers, and into the cold air. At the very least, it would keep him from getting excited. All he wore were his boxers, and so he walked around the room, picking up clothes without putting anything else on yet.

“Sorry. I made you keep the door open. It must have been cold.” Keith looked over his shoulder as he did a jump and shimmy to get his jeans on. He wasn’t going to go out there in his Blade uniform. It would cause a stir and draw attention. That was the last thing he wanted to do tonight. “I like sleeping in a cold room.” Not that they slept. All it took just his sour mood, a simple touch, and a well-timed word from Lance and they were sprawled on top of each other on the bed. Their tryst hadn’t gotten much further than hungry kisses and desperate groping. Lance, sensing something was off had been the gentleman about it and simply let Keith go. 

Keith pulled on a thicker sweatshirt, his hands going into the kangaroo pouch pocket and he waited patiently for his former teammate.

“I’m fine with it… It’s better than it being too hot. At least if it’s cold you can pull on blankets or something.” Lance shook his head and tugged his shirt on, bending over to pick up his jeans. There wasn’t much else he could say in the moment, so he just quietly got dressed and looked at Keith when he was done.

“Can I say one more thing?” Keith stood up and steeled himself before he got on his tip toes and kissed his cheek. “I- I don’t know what’s going to happen once we get off this planet. I don’t know what that means for us, but as long as we’re trapped here we can be whatever we want.” A little blush came to Keith’s cheeks. 

“I might regret it later. But… I know you missed Christmas with your family and well… I want to…” Keith lost his words and soon his nerve would follow. He had to get this out. The mushy crap was hard enough as it was! “I’ll be your present!” He blurted. It wasn’t what he wanted to say. In fact, it wasn’t near what he even remotely wanted to put out there! “I mean. That’s... presumptuous. I mean I well. Um..” He rubbed the back of his neck, ruffling the longer hair.

“We can pretend it’s Christmas. And just try to enjoy it.” Keith swallowed, suddenly finding his boots very interesting.

Lance blinked at Keith’s earnest declaration, but then he laughed, pulling him into his arms and nuzzling his face into his hair, as though that would stop his chuckling. “Then you just gave me the best present ever.” He managed as he calmed himself down, though he kept Keith in his arms for a moment longer. “Then I will look forward to unwrapping your gift to me.” He managed a slight grin, and he kissed Keith once before letting go of him and looking at him. “Shall we?”

“H-hey!” Keith squirmed. He knew he could have broken free from Lance. Their skill levels differed too greatly for the paladin to ever hold Keith down, so any struggle or fight was just for show, and they both knew it. When Lance let him go, he grabbed his coat and nodded. 

“Lead the way. Crowds are your thing.” Keith may have said those words when they left the room, but as their night wore on, he had taken the lead, pulling Lance into the different stalls. Salted caramel, sugared nuts, pastries of the sort Keith hadn’t seen since he left Earth. Hot chocolate like drinks were offered at almost every stall, and the Galran spy found himself indulging in a rum flavored alcohol. It was sweet, spicy, and hot, served with a sticky cinnamon batter on the top. 

Lance couldn’t help enjoy himself even though Keith was pulling him from stall to stall. It was like he wanted to try every sweet thing that existed, and who was Lance to complain? He wouldn’t, especially with the way Keith’s cheeks flushed and his lips curved into a smile. That flush only seemed to deepen when he tried some of the different alcohols, and Lance chuckled slightly. 

As the excitement seemed to die down, Lance moved up behind Keith at some candy apple-like stall, and he slid his hands up the back of his sweatshirt. He leaned in and whispered into the back of his ear. “I’m cold now…You said you’d warm me up, didn’t you?”

Keith squeaked. An honest unstoppable squeak. The chill of Lance’s hands against his warm back sent a rush of tension in both directions. His hair prickled, and his toes curled inside his boots. Then that warm breath blew the fine hairs of his ears making Keith pliant against Lance’s chest. “Yeah. Now?”

“Do you feel how cold my hands are?” Lance asked, whispering against Keith’s ear. “Would you prefer to stay out here? If I get colder, you’ll just have to do more to warm me up.”

“Well. What do you want?” Keith turned his eyes up, ignoring the anteater elephant looking bear type alien sitting in the stall. None of his six eyes seemed to care about the two males pressed against each other outside his popup store. Keith wondered, briefly, if the merchant knew they were males. “I’m supposed to be treating you.” He held up a candy coated fruit to Lance with one hand, while his other held another of those sticky sweet drinks.

“Are you?” Lance took the candy and blinked at him, but then he grinned. “Looks like you’re treating yourself a bit more.” He touched one of those alcohol flushed cheeks. “But you look like you’re enjoying yourself, so that’s good enough for me.”

“O-oh.” Keith’s eyes drifted down a bit of guilt setting into his features. “Sorry.”

“Ah don’t.” Lance shook his head and leaned in so their foreheads were touching. “I’m really enjoying you enjoying yourself.”

Keith’s eyes crossed as he tried to look up at Lance over their noises. “We can go back if you want. I could use some warming up too.”

“Then we should go warm each other up.” Lance smiled and took Keith’s free hand in his own, walking back to the hotel with him. 

Back at their hotel Keith leaned against the door when he heard it click shut. The sound was soft but carried the weight of a ten-ton metal drawbridge locking down. His arms folded behind his back and he looked around the room. The windows were shut, and the staff had already changed the bedding. The bed even looked bigger than it did before. Keith swallowed and finally let his eyes rest on Lance. “I should go shower. And get cleaned up for.. you? Unless.. well.. either way…”

“Then don’t I need to shower for you too?” Lance’s cheeks flushed just slightly at the thought. “Should…we save water and shower together?” He knew what he was suggesting, and he honestly expected Keith to yell at him and slam the bathroom door so he couldn’t follow him. 

“I don’t want to do that in the shower.” Keith’s voice was soft and uniquely uncertain. “If we shower together…”

Lance slowly nodded and sat on the bed. “Ok…I’ll wait.” He looked down at his hands and tried to think about something else. Anything was better than that subtle rejection.

Keith disappeared into the bathroom and reemerged in a robe designed for a being twice his body mass. Steam followed and wafted out into the colder air of the bedroom as the boy walked across the carpeted floor and sat on the edge of the bed. His hands resting stiffly on his knees and his feet sat flat on the floor. “Your turn.” He pulled the towel from his head, hair already dry and settling in a freshly showered fluff of ebony waves.

Lance didn’t look up as he pushed himself off the bed and walked into the bathroom. He knew if he looked at Keith in that moment, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere, and that wouldn’t have been fair to the smaller paladin. So he knew he needed to shower. And as he did, he rested his forehead against the wall and mumbled a little incoherently to himself, trying to calm down at least a little before he finished, wrapped a towel around his waist, and stepped out of the bathroom, fidgeting nervously. 

Keith breathed deeply, trying to focus on anything other than what was about to happen. He didn’t want to stop it, but he was terrified. This wasn’t like those months after the garrison. He’d been numb then. He hadn’t known the woman, but he saved her from a mugging. She wanted to thank him, and he needed a place to stay. She said she liked his look. She said he had a pretty face. He obliged but did little more than that. He’d lost himself in those listless months, and he’d built up more than one regret in that time. 

The person he’d been and the him now had little in common. Sure, he was still trying to figure himself out, but with direction and purpose. He jumped when the bathroom door opened with a creak, and he stared up at the brown skinned, toned, half naked body of the new red paladin. “I can certainly see how you could suspend yourself from ribbons.” Keith said with a shaky voice, trying to ease the tension in the room.

“Am…I too skinny?” Lance looked down at himself, one hand resting on his own stomach as if checking to see how thin he actually was. He normally wasn’t so self-conscious about his looks, but Keith’s comment made him feel a bit awkward. “Is it bad?” He looked up at Keith again, as though he needed some sort of validation. For all that he joked, teased, and flirted, he never actually felt like he wanted anyone to tell him he looked good. And yet here he was, practically trembling with anxiety, hoping that Keith would at least think he wasn’t ugly.

Keith blinked, caught off guard by the question but his eyes softened. Why did they fight for so long? They weren’t that different from each other. “No.” Keith whispered. “Come here.” 

“O..Okay.” Lance walked towards him, one hand holding the towel up. He focused on moving steadily, so he wouldn’t trip and embarrass himself any more than he already had. 

When Lance stood in front of him Keith took the hand holding the towel and flattened his own against it. “You look amazing.” He slid his other hand over the side of Lance’s hip shivering at the touch of soft flesh under his finger-tips. Men weren’t like women at all. There was a softness to them, sure but it wasn’t the softness of curves or the swelling of breasts. It was their skin. A bronze wrapping over tightly packed hard muscle and sinew. 

“You’re developing more here.” Keith’s fingers danced to Lance’s stomach feeling the velvet skin over four well defined abs and feeling two more starting to show just below the surface. He leaned in closer and tilted his head up smiling when he finally placed a familiar scent. “You brought your own body wash? I didn’t see anything in there with ‘cocoa butter’ as an ingredient.” 

Lance shivered at the touches over his stomach, and he looked down at Keith, his lips parting slightly, his cheeks flushed. “Well…I always have a travel kit, just in case.” He felt his lower lip quiver a bit when he finished speaking. His body was growing warm, especially the place hidden by the towel, and if Keith kept touching his skin and looking up at him like that, he was sure that would harden too. It would be impossible to hide it from the other paladin once that happened.

Keith laughed. A soft endeared laugh. “Of course you would.” The young Blade laid his forehead against the flat stomach in front of him, his soft hair pressed dusting over the bronze skin he’d admired. “Lay back with me.” He whispered as he kissed Lance’s stomach, his hands starting to shake even as they pulled Lance down and over him. The motion forcing the Paladin on his hands and knees as Keith laid under him still kissing around the tiny inny of Lance's belly button.

Lance yelped when Keith tugged him down. He ended up falling forward, his knees pressing into the bed next to Keith’s waist, his hands spread out in front of himself. He tried to look down at him, but he couldn’t see anything other than the black mop that brushed against his skin. “K…Keith…” He gasped when more kisses came to his stomach, and he could feel himself hardening under the towel. “W…What…?”

Keith chuckled, hiding his nervousness behind the sound. “Isn’t it obvious?” He spoke against the warm skin. He continued to kiss around his stomach before his hand moved up to Lance’s hips and gently guided him to lean forward as he dragged himself down. “We can get rid of his.” His fingers slipped around the hem of the towel. “If you want.”

“I…I…” Lance couldn’t stop the half-whimper, half-moan that escaped his lips when Keith pushed him forward a bit more. “Then…Then I’ll be naked.” Yeah. Smooth Lance. He winced a little at how stupid and nervous that sounded. “I’ve never…”

“I know. I haven’t really either.” Keith let the towel drop and he gasped. He’d never seen someone else’s before. Not in person, and his breath caught. His nerve waning. Lance’s sex was bigger than what he’d been expecting. Certainly, long enough to touch the back of his throat. He let out a shaking breath. Maybe he could just lick it. That’d be fine right? He didn’t think he could do what they did in those video’s he’d seen. Maybe women had longer tongues? Less of a gag reflex? 

“Ah! Sorry.” Keith realized he’d been pondering for too long and leaned up to lick experimentally at the tip.

“Sorry for—aah!” Lance moaned loudly and dug his fingers into the blanket, trying to keep himself held up above Keith even though his arms started to tremble. Whatever he thought would have happened tonight, this certainly wasn’t it, and he could feel his heat twitching from such a simple pleasure. 

“Well you seem to like it.” Keith blushed and licked again, getting a little bolder and trying not to think of the taste. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t anything. Heated salty skin fresh from the shower. That is what it tasted like. “Nnm… “ He licked again, doing his best to hold Lance up.

“I…I…” Lance yelped and moaned, and he tried to keep himself up, though all his body wanted to do was lay on Keith. “I’m…It’s…”

Keith nodded his head, rallying some part of himself before he took the tip into his mouth, letting his tongue roll over it.

“Keith…Keith…” Lance kept moaning his name. “I’m…I’m going to…” Jolts of pleasure went shooting though his body, and it was taking all of his willpower to hold himself up.

Keith dared himself to go a little deeper, pushing his head up as he carefully tried to guide Lance down.

Lance’s climax hit almost immediately after Keith’s mouth spread its warmth over more of him, and his back arched, trying to push his hips closer to Keith. “AH!”

“Mmph!” Keith arched his hands dropping down to grip the bed sheets as Lance thrusted into his mouth. Hot spurting pleasure sild down the back of his throat forcing the smaller man to swallow, but he couldn’t breathe. The sudden flurry of motion and sensation caused a panic to rise up and he hurriedly tapped Lance’s hip.

Lance fell off Keith, laying on his back besides him, panting. Tears slid down his cheeks as he tried to process what just happened, and he rested an arm over his eyes as though that would hide them. “S…Sorry.”

Keith coughed as soon as air filled his lungs again, and he curled on his side, face and neck flushed with the effort to regain his breathing. “I.. I’m okay. I didn’t look like that in the clips.” He coughed again, tears at the corners of his eyes. “A—are you okay?” Keith slid up beside Lance, his hand holding his cheek. 

“Did I hurt you? I... did I bite you?” Keith’s thick eyebrows arched up as if they could touch, concern birthed anxiety making him nibble on his lower lip.

“No, you didn’t hurt me…” Lance kept his arm over his eyes as his chest heaved. He tried to calm himself down, but hearing Keith cough set a wave of guilt through him. “I hurt you, didn’t I?” His lower lip trembled. But then he slowly lowered his arm to look at Keith, his eyes still shimmering with tears. “You…watched clips?”

Keith nodded his head as if it was the most natural thing. He was a hot blooded male. It was stupid to assume it was unaware of porn and even more stupid to assume he’d never been curious. “You… didn’t?” Keith used his thumb to wipe away the tears. 

“Well, no I mean of course I did. I just thought you weren’t the kind who would.” Lance looked over at Keith and lifted a hand to touch his cheek. “I guess I thought maybe it wasn’t your thing…”

“How are you supposed to learn, otherwise?” Keith’s eyes were too innocent given the context of the conversation. 

“I mean, my dad told me what happens when guys and girls have sex. Babies and all that stuff.” Lance’s brows furrowed a little. “But it’s not like we talked about anything other than that. And I mean there is sex-ed in school. And friends….” He looked at Keith. “I’m not saying it’s bad? I was just surprised.” 

Keith’s eyes lowered. “I wouldn’t know about any of that.” He supposed that was true. It was a parents or a father’s job to educate their child on the more delicate parts of life. Keith’s dad never got that far. He never had friends, and he would have sooner died then ask Shiro.

Lance blinked a little, but then he shook his head and lifted a hand to touch one of Keith’s cheeks. “Hey, it’s okay. People learn things differently. You don’t have to feel bad about it.”

“You weren’t hurt though?” Keith buried his face in Lance’s hand.

“No. No I wasn’t hurt at all. It felt amazing. I was worried I hurt you.” Lance leaned forward and kissed the top of Keith’s head. 

“I’m okay. It was dumb, I shouldn’t have I tried that. It just seemed easier and you were liking it. So.” Keith lifted his eyes to Lance, golden light of the electric star outside their window shimmering in the nebula colored depths. “I went with it.” 

“It…” Lance shook his head a little, and he kissed Keith’s forehead, then his cheeks. “You made me feel something better than I’ve ever felt before.” And as he spoke, his hands moved and slowly pushed open Keith’s robe, the tips of his fingers gently dancing along pale flesh.

“Nn.” Keith reacted instantly to Lance’s touch. Goosebumps lifted on his neck followed by a flush. His skin too delicate to hide any blemish or imperfection, meaning the discoloration of his arousal couldn’t be confined to his cheeks alone. It moved down his neck and over his shoulders, highlighting sensitive areas where his blood vessels were close to the surface of his skin. It made his body surprisingly honest.

“I want to make you feel good.” Lance sat up a little so he could see Keith more clearly as he pushed that robe down off the smaller man’s shoulders. He watched the way his own dark fingers slid along porcelain flesh until they found one of his hardening pink peaks. He let his finger slide over one, his gaze never leaving Keith’s face. He watched the way his mouth parted, the way his eyes seemed to darken as such a simple touch. He was like a living work of art, and Lance wanted to cherish him.

“Eng… I.. I’m not a woman so…” Keith shivered as the felt his body react to a touch he didn’t expect it to. He shifted his body, but the robe, partly twisted around his arms, locking them down into his lap once it caught on his elbows. 

“I know you’re not a woman.” Lance let his hand slide down that porcelain-sculpted chest, over the taut stomach, and to the tie that was barely holding the robe closed over Keith’s most intimate parts. 

“Ah!” Keith’s breathing sped and the weight of his arousal pushed the young Blade to lay back against the headboard, pillows cushioning his sides. “Lance.” He sighed out his partner’s name, while his head lulled to rest on his shoulder.

Lance opened Keith’s robe and looked down at him. “Is it too much? Should I stop?” He hadn’t touched him yet, but his hand hovered over the smaller man’s heat. 

“Do you want to?” Keith’s shoulders slumped a little. “Do…” He turned his head away from Lance, afraid of what he might see in those sea blue eyes. “You don’t like it?”

“I don’t want to stop, no, but I will if you want me to.” Lance pouted a little when Keith turned away, so he leaned down to kiss his cheek. “Do you like it?”

Keith turned to catch that kiss on his lips. “I do. This morning you were a lot more forceful. I was wondering if, since I’m naked now, that you don’t…” Keith let the implication trail off. “Just don’t force yourself.”

“I’m not forcing anything.” Lance’s fingers finally touched Keith’s exposed flesh, slowly moving over it as though he were trying to memorize how it was shaped. He leaned down and kissed Keith, smiling against his lips. 

“Ah!” Keith gasped against Lance’s lips his hips shifting and his arm wrapping around the slender paladin’s shoulders. His fingers gripping his back as his hips jerked. 

“Is it too much?” Lance kissed Keith again while his fingers moved over his sex. He pressed himself against one of Keith’s thighs and shifted a little, groaning at the sensation.

“Do I look… like I’m not… handling it? Aha!” Keith licked and kissed the shoulder at his lips, then nipping the soft flesh when the pleasure spiked up.

“So you like it then?” Lance’s fingers curled around Keith’s heat and he groaned, rubbing himself against his thigh at the same pace he moved his hand. “Keith…”

“Lance.” Keith nuzzled his cheek against Lance until he was able to move his mouth over his. Leaving the former blue paladin with heated desperate a kiss. “More.” Came his voice once the kiss broke and before he went in for another.

“Nnn.” Lance moaned into the kiss and started to move his hand faster, trying to make it as pleasurable for Keith as he could.

“Ah! Lance… Lance…” Keith continued to whimper Lance’s name, until his body tightened, and his arm pulled the other flush against is smaller frame. His hips writhed and twisted, grinding up against the other until he came with honey slicked moan. “La..ance…” 

Lance looked down at Keith, eyes dark as he watched the way his pleasure reflected in his expression: half lidded eyes, parted lips. He groaned a little and took that mouth in a hot kiss, his hand moving to smear some of the evidence of Keith’s climax on that pale stomach.

“Nnm…” Keith kissed him back, making sure to rub his thigh against the heat pressed against him. “In the shower, before. I got it ready for you. If that’s what you want.” Keith whispered, kissing him again. He never thought he could be the type that could give everything over to another person. Yet here he was, under this tall, Cuban, beautiful wonder of a human being ready to trust him with the most vulnerable thing two people could possibly do. 

“E…Eh?” Lance felt himself twitch against Keith’s thigh and he looked down at him, his own cheeks flushed. “You did?” Just the thought of Keith doing that to himself made him shudder, and he looked down at him. “You…want to do that with me?”

“Isn’t that why we came back here?” Keith’s head cocked to the side, his hair fanning against his cheek. “You were going to unwrapped me. I thought you meant…”

Lance’s blush darkened. “Y…Yeah.” He touched Keith’s cheek. “And…you definitely want to? You’re not just trying to make me feel better?” His fingers slid along Keith’s jaw and down his neck. 

“You are one of the few people who know me. Would I have let it get this far if I hadn’t already decided it’s what I wanted? We’re about to make a stupid mistake. But we already made that mistake before we came here.” Keith reached up to cup Lance’s cheeks, forcing his eyes onto his. “You don’t look at someone the way you look at me if it’s not already too late.” 

“I…don’t think it’s a mistake though.” Lance pouted and tried to nuzzle Keith’s hands. “I want you, Keith. I just wanted to hear you want me too.” 

“It is. But it’s a mistake I want to make.” Keith leaned up and left whispered kissed against Lance’s narrow cheeks. “A mistake I’ll want to make again and again until it becomes right. I don’t want to fall this hard and be left alone, and I don’t want to leave you alone. I know it will hurt too much, and it scares the shit out of me. But… I’d rather have this memory of you with me for the rest of my life then to never know what it was to be held by a you.” 

Lance’s eyes closed and he leaned down, burying his face in Keith’s neck and trembling a little. “Idiot…when did you get to be so cute?” He held him close, doing his best to hold himself back as he clung to the smaller man. “I won’t leave you. I won’t…So you can’t leave me either okay?”

Keith tilted his head back, his heart racing with the afterthought of the words he said. “I’ll do my best.” No one was more aware of how empty those kinds of promises would be. Keith would never say them. Phrases like “I won’t die.” Or “I’ll always come back to you” were empty words. But Keith could promise that he would always do everything in his power to survive. He threaded his fingers into Lance’s hair. “And I’m not cute. Mildly intoxicated. High on sugar, but not cute.” 

“You’re cute, idiot.” Lance murmured against Keith’s neck before he started kissing there. He knew he was the one being stupid, not Keith, but he couldn’t help himself. “Cute.” Another kiss to his neck as he shifted his body and slid himself between Keith’s legs. He slowly lifted himself to look down at him as his hands slid over Keith’s hips and lifted them. “Cute…” 

“I’m not-” Keith gasped when the pull on his hips shifted him down against the pillows. The kisses had left his skin on fire with a tingling bliss, but now he was sobering to the awareness of what was between his legs. He was scared and excited. As he moved his thighs the feel of Lance’s soft pampered flesh sent jolts of electricity through his nerves, and they joined against the hardened flesh resting against his lower abdomen.

“Then you’re sexy.” Lance murmured as he lined himself up, his own sex twitching in anticipation. Did Keith have any idea just how perfect he was? Probably not. “Sexy, beautiful…” He gripped Keith’s hips to steady him, watching his face as he carefully inched himself into him. “Nnn… Amazing…” 

“Ah!” Keith’s eyes widened then shut tight. It hurt. It was unexpectedly painful. He didn’t know what he was expecting, and he should have known that the first time would never be easy, but he found his calm. He breathed out, his hand twisting into the pillow beside his head. Tension left his body and with it, most of the pain melted away as he relaxed. He became pliable and allowed Lance the final gentle push the he needed to complete their connection. 

“Mm, Lance.” Keith drunkenly let the name slip from his lips. “Don’t move yet. Let me get used to it.” He felt whole. Full. He lowered his hand to his stomach and licked his lips as he pressed down, his body instinctively tightening around the intrusion. This time it didn’t hurt. This time it felt like he was melting. Like Lance was melting in him, and he into Lance. 

He felt Keith tighten around him, but he kept his hips still, his fingers pressing into the flesh as he tried to keep himself as steady as possible. “S…Sorry.” He let Keith move how he needed to, and he tried to keep his eyes focused on Keith’s face. He saw that pain flash briefly in his eyes, but he tried to convince himself it would still be okay. “Keith…I…”

“It’s okay.” Keith whispered. “I feel you. Nnm.” He shifted a little. “It’s really hot. Eng. Every move. Ah!” Keith’s toes curled up against the bed just as his eyes opened slowly, they were dark burning coronas over a violet sun. “You can move.”

That was all Lance needed to hear before he started to move his hips slowly, his lips parting a bit as a moan escaped. Keith felt too good. It was too hot. There was no way he was going to be able to last too long like this, but he also didn’t want to disappoint his partner. “A…Ah…”

“Hot.. so hot. Aah!” Keith’s voice hitched up with a moan. It felt like Lance was made for him. Every part he touched sparked of pleasure, and then there was that one spot. “AH Fuck!” He tossed his head back. He didn’t even know men had something like that. “nng!”

“I…I can’t…I…” He didn’t know how much time had passed since they started, but Lance’s hips thrust a little wildly as he hit his climax, his body tensing. “AH!” He did his best not to dig his fingers into Keith’s hips as he emptied himself into him, but even as he came down from that high, he kept himself inside the other paladin.

Lance’s sudden wild thrust pushed against that mysterious pleasure center. Keith’s mind flashed with fire red light then white, then it was gone, and all that remained were two sweaty bodies, tangled together on an oversized hotel bed. Keith quivered as he rode on the aftershocks, twitching and contracting around Lance before allowing him to pull away.

Lance groaned as he pulled out of him, but he barely had the energy to stay up, so he laid on top of Keith, once again pressing his face into his neck as he tried to catch his breath. “A…Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah. You?” Keith smiled lazily, enjoying the feeling of Lance’s full body pressing into him. It was warm and sweet like thick melted caramel. He smoothed his hands over his back. 

“Nnn.” Lance nuzzled his face into Keith’s neck and groaned a little. He couldn’t help it. Everything about Keith just felt so good. “Keith…”

“Is that an answer?” Keith whispered against his ear. 

“I feel good…” Lance groaned.

“Are you hard again?” Keith blushed moving his leg against him. He wasn’t sure if he was impressed or flattered. “You, you can do it again.”

Lance moaned when Keith rubbed his leg against him. “Ah…I…I want to, but I don’t want to hurt you…”

“It won’t hurt. This time. It’s already your… shape.” Keith blushed and quickly turned his face into Lance’s hair to hide it.

“Oh…” Lance nuzzled Keith’s neck and kissed there. “Do you want to do it again, Keith?”

Keith replied with the smallest of nods, like he couldn’t bear to face Lance after saying something so embarrassing. 

Lance lifted his head and looked down at Keith, smiling at how red his cheeks were. “See? Cute.” He leaned down to kiss him, once again getting into position. “Keith…” He licked at the other paladin’s lips as he inched inside. “Nnn. Hold me.”

“I already am.” Keith tightened the arms around Lance biting his own lip as he felt his heat pushing further and further into him. 

Lance kissed him, moving his hips a little better this time, and holding him as close as he could as he moved in him. “Nnn… Keith, you feel amazing.”

“Because you feel.. mnn AH!” There it was again. That maddeningly hot spot the blanked his mind of reason.

Lance started to move himself a little faster. Keith’s moaning was driving him crazy, and he wanted to make sure he kept feeling good. “Ah!”

Were those noises coming from him? Those pleading moans and pitched begs? Those were sounds he was able to make? “La-nce!” He wrapped his legs around him, his heels pushing against the narrow of the paladin’s back.

He couldn’t help it. He pushed deeper when Keith pulled him closer like that. “Keith!” He panted as he kept his hips moving, a little faster than before. “You…You’re…!”

“Lance! Ah! Ah.. it’s good… you feel good…” Keith’s fevered desperate lips searched out Lance’s.

Lance kissed him with a passion he didn’t know he had, moaning into Keith’s mouth as he continued to move with him. 

The heat and blinding light came again, this time sending Keith over the edge as he pushed his hips up and arched his head back, trust Lance to not let go.

And Lance didn’t let go. He held Keith a little tighter as he climaxed with him, and when his body came down from that high, he continued to hold Keith even as he slipped out of him. 

Trembling and weak, Keith sunk into the bed. He moved his lips several times to speak, but words didn’t come out.

Still trying to catch his breath, Lance laid down next to Keith and pulled him into his arms, allowing the smaller paladin to rest his head on his chest as he nuzzled his hair and kissed the top of his head. 

“Three days huh?” Keith whispered finding his voice.

Lance chuckled a little and held Keith closer. “Too many, or not enough?”

“Depends on what you plan to do with me.” Keith kissed over Lance’s chest and around his neck. “I made you a deal. As long as were here; there are no paladins or blades. We’re just us.” Keith leaned up so he could see Lance. Dark locks framing his face with cat-fur soft hair. An abnormality Keith could now attribute to his heritage.

“I just want to make you happy.” Lance closed his eyes for a moment and let Keith lavish him with those kisses before he opened them again and looked at him. “If I can do that, even if it’s only for three days, then I’ve done something good.” He lifted a hand to push some of those black strands away from Keith’s face. 

“When did you actually get that smooth?” Keith could have purred with Lance’s gentle attention.

“I’m just being honest.” Lance smiled. “Though now you’ve spoiled me. I’m going to want this gift from you every time I see you, you realize that, right?”

“I had a feeling you’d be a brat.” Keith smiled and nuzzled Lance’s nose. “Merry Christmas, Lance.”

“Yeah, well you like me.” Lance grinned a little, but then he kissed Keith. “Merry Christmas, Keith.”

Keith started, unable to remember the last time he heard that sentence. His laid back down against Lance, his face buried in his neck. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Lance whispered, gently stroking Keith’s hair and holding him a little closer. “And thank you. You’ve given me the best gift anyone could have given me.”

“No refunds or returns.” Keith murmured as something like a purr escaped him.

“Well, no takebacks or gifting someone else.” Lance continued to play with Keith’s hair, a little smile ghosting on his lips. 

“Regifting? That’s a horrible idea.” Keith laughed warmly and cuddled into Lance, his arms holding him on either side. “No one else. I wouldn’t like that.” Keith’s voice carried a tired pout as he yawned against Lance’s neck and started to drift off.

Lance shifted them both so he could pull the blankets up over them, his lips pressing against the top of his head as he whispered, “I won’t let you be lonely anymore…” once he was sure Keith was asleep, and he closed his eyes to allow himself the same comfort.


End file.
